Pia Wurtzbach's guard goes viral for pushing incident at book fair; Ricky Lee speaks up on issue
National artist Ricky Lee has reacted to the viral incident of a security guard seemingly shoving him aside as he was shaking hands with beauty queen Pia Wurtzbach at a recently concluded book fair.
The scene took place during the launch of the Miss Universe 2015 titleholder's debut novel Queen of the Universe at the 2023 Manila International Book Fair, which took place at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City from Sept. 14 to 17.
In the video taken by entertainment reporter MJ Felipe, Wurtzbach could be seen waving to her fans before being approached by the acclaimed novelist and playwright. The two of them were able to shake hands and exchange pleasantries for a while before a security guard cut the meeting short by appearing to push Lee away from the beauty queen.
Social media users were not so pleased by what they saw, with some commenting that what the guard did was "disrespectful" towards the 75-year-old writer, who was named National Artist of the Philippines for Film and Broadcast Arts in 2022.
"Grabe 'yung hinawi lang si sir Ricky Lee. Unang una, may edad na sya, kung makahawi naman. Pangalawa, national artist sya! The disrespect!" one user wrote.
There were also some who tried to defend the guard for his actions. "Maybe the guard was not oriented at hindi niya kilala si Mr. Ricky Lee. He just wanted to protect the artist at makarating sa stage on time to not delay the program since 'yun ang instruction sa kanila. Usually strict talaga yung marshall pagdating sa ganyan. Maybe he was just following orders. Tigil niyo na yung pambabash sa guard. It might cost his job sa sobrang bashing," an Internet user said.
In an interview with entertainment news site PEP, Lee admitted that he felt a little disrespected when he got pushed away, pointing out that the guard could have been more gracious in handling the matter.
"Kung may taong nilapitan din ni Pia, kinamayan pa ni Pia, respetuhin niya [guard] yung tao at si Pia, kasi kilala ni Pia," he told the outlet. "Hindi niya kailangang hawiin kasi si Pia mismo ang lumapit at nakipag-usap. So, kawalang respeto yon hindi lang sa akin kundi kay Pia."
"Hindi dahil senior citizen, hindi dahil National Artist. I think maski na sinong tao, maski na bata o estudyante, kung in-acknowledge ni Pia, kinausap at pinasalamatan, huwag niyang itaboy. 'Yun ang punto ko," he continued.
Before the incident, Lee shared that he had already met up with Wurtzbach to have lunch and exchange books with her.
"Na-meet ko si Pia nung ribbon cutting, and then, after that, nag-lunch kami. [S]inabi ni Pia na bibigyan niya ako ng libro niya so sumabay ako sa van niya para ma-autograph yung libro. Sabi ko, bibigyan ko rin siya ng libro ko bilang kapalit. Pinadalhan ko siya ng libro sa holding area," he recounted.
The artist also praised the local personality for showing him kindness during the book fair.
"She was very gracious. She acknowledged me," he said. "In fairness kay Pia at sa host ng program, in-acknowledge pa nga ako, 'Ay, nandito si Sir Ricky. Ang iginagalang na National Artist. Tumayo po tayong lahat at magbigay-pugay.'"